Pea and bean shelling machine



Dec. 26, 1961 P. o. FARMER, sR

PEA AND BEAN SHELLING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 2-

Filed NOV. 21, 1958 Patrick 0. Farmer 8!.

IN VEN TOR.

9 BY @Znw man/MW;

Dec. 26, 1961 Q, RM R, 5 3,014,486

PEA AND BEAN SHELLING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Iiiiifiitiiit.ifiiiwiiinq 4 a 1 v 1 3 I "m Filed Nov. 21, 1958 Patrick 0. Farmer Sr.

1N VEN TOR.

9 flawmibk aadfiwey 153% 3,014,436 PEA AND BEAN SHELLING MACHINE Patrick 0. Farmer, Sr., 105 S. Martin St, Mount ()live, N.C. Filed Nov. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 775,497 Claims. (Cl. 13030) This invention relates to improvements in machines for shelling peas or beans.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a time and labor saving machine for household use in shelling peas or beans without damaging the peas or beans and which is easy to operate, readily portable for use in the home, of simple inexpensive construction and durable.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation of the machine of this invention in the preferred embodiment thereof;

FIGURE 2 is a view in front elevation;

FIGURE 3 is a view in rear elevation;

FIGURE 4 is a view in plan;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view in vertical cross-section taken 011 the line 55 of FIGURE 4, and

FIGURE 6 is a view in horizontal section taken on the irregular line 66 of FIGURE 5.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, the machine of this invention, as illustrated, comprises a generally cylindrical hopper 1 supported in elevated position by a pair of upright side plates 3 having legs '5 and being cross connected by transverse front and rear bolted on bars 7, 9.

The hopper 1 comprises a pair of upright circular end disks 11 bolted, as at 10, to and rising above said plates 3. The end disks 11 each comprises an axial hub 13 on the outer side thereof, an annular, lateral circumferential edge flange 15 projecting from the outer side of the disk and terminating at the outer side of the disk in an annular circumferential rim flange 17 on the disk parallel to the plane of the disk, and a lateral projecting annular flange 18 at the inner side of said disk 11 and on the edge flange 15.

Transverse, arcuate front and rear peripheral plates 19, 21 on said hopper connect and are suitably fixed to the rim flanges 17 and are spaced apart circumferentially of said hopper 1 to provide an upper front opening 23 and a relatively narrow bottom outlet opening 25 in said hopper.

A threshing cylinder 27 is rotatably fitted between the disks 11 concentrically thereof and of'the hopper 1 with the circumferential end flange 29. running in the lateral flange 18 which forms sealing rings around the ends of the cylinder 27 to prevent pieces of pod-s from working in between the disks 11 and the cylinder 27. Circumferential series of radial pins 31 are provided on the cylinder 27 preferably with the pins 31 in alternate series staggered relative to those in intermediate series.

A drive shaft 33 for the cylinder 27 extends axially therethrough and is suitably fixed to said cylinder and journaled in bearing sleeves 35 in the hubs 13. A drive pulley 37 is fast on one end of the shaft 33 outside the hopper 1 for belt connection as at 36 to a drive motor, not shown. Set collars 39 on the shaft 33 at the outer sides of the hubs 13 prevent end play of said shaft 33 in the bearing sleeves 35.

A series of front, rear and intermediate concaves 41, 43, 45, respectively, of rectangular shape and arcuate crosssection extend in the hopper 1 across the same and are grouped concentrically around the cylinder 27 in spaced relation thereto and to the plates 19, 21. The front and 3,hl4,486 Patented Dec. 26, 1961 Zen rear concaves 41, 43 extend from opposite sides of the upper front opening 23. The intermediate concave 45 bridges the outlet opening 25 and is spaced from the front and rear concaves 41, 43 to provide gaps 47 between said concaves for a purpose presently seen.

The concaves 41, 43, 45 fit endwise between the rim flanges 17 and each comprises a pair of arcuate end bars 49, a rectangular shaped screen 51 suitably fixed to the end bars 49, a plurality of laterally spaced rods 53 terminally suitably fixed to the pair of bars 49 parallel to the cylinder 27 and plates 19, 21, and longitudinal rows of pins 55 on the rods 53 extending toward the cylinder 27 radially thereof in longitudinal rows on the concaves and spaced from the pins 31, said pins 55 extending through the screens 51.

The concaves 41, 43, 45 are mounted on the disks 11 for adjustment toward and from the cylinder 27. For this purpose, each concave is supported at its ends by a pair of threaded shafts 59 suitably terminally fixed to the end bars 49 of the concaves and extending through the flanges 15 of the disks 11 radially of said disks. A turn buckle 61 connects each shaft 59 to a complemental shaft 63 fixed by a pin 65 in the hub 13 of the associated disk 11 radially of said disk. Thus the concaves 41, 43, 45 are adjustable by means of radial longitudinally adjustable support members on the disks and whereby the concaves are adjustable independently to vary the spacing of the same from the cylinder 27 and the plates 19, 21 to vary the spacing of the pins 55 from the pins 31, for a purpose presently apparent. The screens 51 are of sufficiently open mesh to pass peas or beans therethrough when separated from their pods.

A feed table 67 slants downwardly into the upper opening 23 at the top of the hopper 1 and is fixed on a pair of similarly slanting support bars 69 bolted, as at 71, to opposite disks 11. The table 67 bisects the opening '23 so that pods of peas or beans may be fed over the table into the opening 23 to the top of the cylinder 27 and broken pods discharged out of said opening 23 beneath said table which baflles the broken pods downwardly and separates the same from the pods being fed on the table.

The plates 19, 21 may be provided with end flanges 73 bolted, as at 75, to the disks 11 to fix said plates to said disks.

In operating the described invention, the pea or bean pods are fed byhand down the feed table 67 into the opening 23 to the top of the cylinder 27 with said cylinder rotating, clockwise, as viewed for instance in FIGURE 5. The pods are carried by the pins 31 on the cylinder 27 around the cylinder between said cylinder and the concaves 41, 43, 45. The pins 31 on the cylinder 27 and those on the concaves 41, 43, 45 coact to tear or break the pods apart to release the peas or beans. Due to centrifugal throw of the pods against the pins 55 of the con caves, resulting from rotation of the cylinder 27, the released or shelled peas or beans pass through the screens 51 of the concaves or out of the gaps 47 between the concaves to gravitate down the plates 19, 21 and issue out of the discharge opening 25. The torn or broken pods are thrown by the cylinder 27 out of the opening 23 below feed table 67. The concaves 41, 43, 45 may be adjusted toward or from the cylinder27 as may be found desirable for efiicient operation of the machine in shelling peas or beans from pods of different sizes. The pins 31 of the merous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In a pea or bean shelling machine, a cylindrical horizontal hopper comprising end disks and front and rear arcuate peripheral plates fixed to said disks and spaced circumferentially at their upper and lower edges from each other to provide an upper front opening and a bottom discharge opening in said hopper, a cylinder in said hopper concentrically thereof rotatably mounted on said disks and spaced from said plates, radial pins on said cylinder for piercing pea and bean pods fed to said cylinder through said front opening and carrying the pods around said cylinder and throwing the same out of the front opening by centrifugal force, a series of concaves in the hopper in the space between said cylinder and said plates, 2. smaller space formed between the plates and concaves, adjustable means mounting said concaves on said disks selectively adjustably spacing the same apart circumferentially of the cylinder, pins on said concaves extending toward and spaced from the pins on the cylinder and coacting with the pins on the cylinder in response to rotation of the cylinder to break the pods apart and release the peas or beans to gravitate out of the space between the concaves and discharge through said discharge opening.

2. The combination of claim 1, said adjustable means for mounting said concaves comprising turnbuckle mem bers on said disks connected to said concaves for adjusting the concaves toward or from the cylinder in accord ance with the size and for adjusting the spacing between the concaves.

3. In a pea or bean shelling machine, a cylindrical horizontal hopper comprising end disks and front and rear arcuate peripheral plates fixed to said disks and spaced circumferentially on the same to provide an upper front opening and a bottom discharge opening in said hopper, a cylinder in said hopper concentrically thereof rotatably mounted on said disks and spaced from said plates, radial pins on said cylinder for piercing pea and bean pods fed to said cylinder through said front opening and carrying the pods around said cylinder and throwing the same out of the front opening by centrifugal force, a series of concaves in the hopper in the space between said cylinder and said plates, adjustable means mounting said concaves on said disks selectively adjustably spacing the same apart circumferentially of the cylinder, pins on said concaves extending toward and spaced from the pins on the cylinder and coacting with the pins on the cylinder in response to rotation of the cylinder to break the pods apart and release the peas or beans to gravitate out of the space between the concaves and discharge through said discharge opening, and said concaves comprising screens through which released peas or beans may escape into a space formed between said concaves and plates.

4. In a pea or bean shelling machine, a cylindrical horizontal hopper comprising end disks and front and rear arcuate peripheral plates fixed to said disks and spaced circumferentially at their upper and lower edges from each other to provide an upper front opening and a bottom discharge opening in said hopper, a cylinder in said hopper concentrically thereof rotatably mounted on said disks and spaced from said plates, radial pins on said cylinder for piercing pea and bean pods fed to said cylinder through said front opening and carrying the pods around said cylinder and throwing the same out of the front opening by centrifugal force, a series of concaves in the hopper in the space between said cylinder and said plates, a smaller space formed between the plates and concaves, adjustable means mounting said concaves on said disks selectively adjustably spacing the same apart circumferentially of the cylinder, pins on said concaves extending toward and spaced from the pins on the cylinder and coacting with the pins on the cylinder in response to rotation of the cylinder to break the pods apart and release the peas and beans to gravitate out of the space between the concaves and discharge through said discharge opening, and said concaves containing a plurality of spaced perforations through which said peas or beans may also pass and thereby be separated from their pods.

5. In a pea or bean shelling machine, a cylindrical horizontal hopper comprising end disks and front and rear arcuate peripheral plates fixed to said disks and spaced circumferentially on the same to provide an upper front opening and a bottom discharge opening in said hopper, a cylinder in said hopper concentrically thereof rotatably mounted on said disks and spaced from said plates, radial projections on said cylinder for piercing pea and bean pods fed to said cylinder through said front opening and carrying the pods around said cylinder and throwing the same out of the front opening by centrifugal force, a series of concaves in the hopper in the space between said cylinder and said plates, means mounting said concaves on said disks spacing the same apart circumferentially of the cylinder, projections on said concaves extending toward and spaced from the projections on the cylinder and coacting with the projections on the cylinder in response to rotation of the cylinder to break the pods apart and release the peas or beans to gravitate out of the space between the concaves and discharge through said discharge opening, and said concaves comprising screens through which released peas or beans may also escape into a space formed between said concaves and plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

